


The Red Feather

by BettyHT



Series: Mo [3]
Category: Bonanza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 16:32:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16391225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BettyHT/pseuds/BettyHT
Summary: 3rd in the Mo series.  This starts as a Halloween style story of anger and vengeance without a happy ending but merges with the story line and OC from Foolish Chances.





	The Red Feather

The Red Feather

Chapter 1 in 1855

"You'll hang for this, Adam Cartwright, someday you'll hang." The young lady was distraught and angry. Her father had been killed three days earlier by Adam. Her father was in his grave, and the man who killed him stood before her free and alive at the stage depot.

"Your father died because he had too much to drink and drew on me over a simple card game." Adam was carrying a lot of guilt for not being able to avoid bloodshed. He knew the man didn't stand a chance if he drew on Adam so he had tried to convince him to let it go. The man wouldn't and drew on Adam who had no choice if he wanted to live. Even a drunk with a pistol can kill you from only six feet away.

"He never had a chance. That's murder in my book, and you'll hang. Someday you're gonna pay for what you did to my father." Fifteen-year-old Nellie Randall climbed up into the stage with a steely look. Roy was sending her to her aunt in California. Adam stood by Roy as the stage pulled away.

"I meant what I said, Roy. I'll pay any expenses, and if you hear she's needs help with anything, just tell me."

"You don't have to do that, Adam. You said the God's honest truth to her. Someday, she'll understand."

"I doubt it, Roy. I know how I would have felt if someone had shot my father to death when I was only fifteen."

With that, Adam mounted up to ride home. Roy watched him leave knowing that he always carried too much responsibility for things that happened, but it was his way. Adam felt intense guilt because he liked to think that he could handle any situation with logic, cleverness, intelligence, and guile or fury as necessary. He knew it was a form of arrogance, but it was just that confidence that proved so effective so often. Many would back off in the face of what he said and the intimidating way he could look at someone as if it was their last day on earth if they crossed him. Three days earlier, none of that had done any good.

It had been a pleasant Saturday afternoon and Adam had been in a friendly card game when Otis Randall asked to join in. No one at the table welcomed his presence because he was uncouth and usually smelled bad, but also because he had a nasty temper that didn't take much to ignite. That day, Adam had been losing but not much. He had tried to bluff once too often and lost in a big pot. He played more conservatively after that and was making up his losses, but he couldn't help himself when the opportunity came to bluff one more time. He had two aces and drew three cards. He got one ace, a king, and a queen, but that wasn't enough. However he let a tiny hint of a smile touch his lips before he became stone faced and started betting. That little tell was enough to make the other players worried that he had gotten the cards he needed in the draw. Adam pushed the pot up and up as the players folded one by one. Then it was only him against Otis. Otis called his bet, and Adam had to show his hand. Adam had three aces against Otis' three kings. Otis had drawn two cards but had gotten nothing to help his hand. Apparently seeing how close he had come and seeing that other king in Adam's hand was enough to make him explode in anger.

"You cheated!" Otis stood and pushed back his chair seething in anger at Adam.

"Otis, be reasonable. I wasn't dealing so how could I cheat, and I had to draw three cards as the last player before the dealer. I couldn't predict what cards I would get. No one could. I got lucky. It happens in this game."

"No, I saw you smile. You had the fix in to get me. You rigged this game with your friends to cheat me."

"Otis, be reasonable. We couldn't even know that you would join this game. If I smiled, then that was my mistake. I usually don't have tells that are so obvious. It isn't always about what you have. It's how you bet and play. Now maybe you can win the next hand or another one along the way."

"No, I'm not losing any more money to you cheaters especially you Cartwright."

"Now, Otis, I was losing before that hand. It's poker. You win some and you lose some."

"Well, you're setting to lose a lot. Meet me on that street in one minute or everybody will know you're a damn coward as well as a cheat."

"Otis, I'm not going to do that. You need to sober up and go home to take care of your daughter. I don't want to make her an orphan."

"You're a yellow-bellied coward. You cheat at cards. You probably cheat with women too. I've heard stories of you calling on married women when their husbands were away."

That got Adam's temper up a bit, but he managed not to lose control. "That's pure gossip spread by mean-spirited people. I mean it, Otis. Go home. Let this go."

"No!" Before anyone could do anything about it, Otis drew on Adam who had to draw to save his life. Even so, he was sitting, and it was close because he couldn't draw as fast as ne normally would have. He had not expected Otis to draw on him there. Otis' bullet hit the wall behind Adam as Adam's shot tore into his chest throwing him back. He gurgled for a moment as his damaged lungs and punctured artery combined to end his life. Roy rushed in then and was shocked by what he saw. He never would have expected to find Adam Cartwright caught in such a situation. He checked to be sure that Otis was dead although there wasn't much doubt. Then he took statements from Adam and everyone in the saloon who all agreed that Adam had tried to talk the man out of the fight despite being insulted and challenged. They all agreed too that Otis had drawn first and fired first because Adam was seated and not expecting it.

"Adam, I'd say you're lucky to be alive right about now. Somebody up there musta been looking out for you, boy. But now I gotta go tell a young lady that her father is dead. She lost her mother years ago. I think I remember that her mother's sister moved on out to California with her family. I'll have to see if I can find out where they are so I can send the girl to them. At fifteen, she's not ready to be on her own especially in her pa's place up on that mountain with all them wild wolf-dogs he likes to have around there."

"Roy, I could go with you and help with burying the man."

"Adam, that ain't a good idea after what you done. Now, I know it weren't your fault, but put yourself in her place. Would you want to see the man who shot your pa down? Like as not, she might set those beast hounds of her pa's on you. Not even that find horse of yours could outrun that pack."

Roy knew that Otis' wife was buried on his place up on the mountain. He assumed that Otis would have wanted to be buried beside her so he had the body rolled in a blanket and tied over Otis' horse. Then he took him and his pack mule up the mountain to tell his daughter Nellie that her father was dead. He hated this part of his job. He knew how hard it was going to be, and it always made him feel so inadequate much as he felt as he tried to help Adam deal with what had happened. It seemed to him that things like that needed some time and some thought although they could never be forgotten. Each person would be marked for the rest of their days by what had happened here today. He had seen Adam heading out of town with his shoulders slumped. Roy could imagine how difficult it was going to be for Adam to tell his father what had happened. Even at twenty-five, it was clear that Adam wanted his father to be proud of him.

When Adam got home, the family was already having dinner. Hoss at nineteen would eat anything left on the platters once everyone was served but Adam wasn't worried about that. He wasn't hungry and wondered if he would be for the foreseeable future as he grappled with the guilt that made his insides churn. When he didn't go in to dinner, he heard his father call from the house. He looked out to see his father standing in the open door of the house. His father's hair was turning to silver and usually that thought brought a smile to Adam's face because everyone said it was because of Little Joe and his antics. However at this point, nothing could bring Adam to smile. He walked to the door of the stable to tell his father that he wasn't hungry and had taken care of things in town. He knew his father would assume that meant he had already eaten. Adam didn't lie, but letting his father believe that's what he meant wasn't the same thing. He had done such things ever since he was a child and learned how to manipulate language to his own ends. It didn't mean he didn't feel badly about fooling his father, but instead that he had a greater need to protect himself at this point. He couldn't go in there and sit down to dinner as if nothing was wrong. He hoped to keep himself busy until Little Joe went to bed and perhaps Hoss too. Then he planned to tell his father what he had done. He knew that it wouldn't be easy, but had never shied away from anything because it was difficult.

"What happened in town, son?"

Apparently Adam wasn't as good at fooling his father as he thought he was. He was startled not only by his father's voice but the question as well. He wondered how his father had known so asked him.

"There's a change in how you talk and walk when you're dealing with something serious. As soon as I saw you standing by the stable door, I knew. I guessed you didn't want your brothers around when you talked to me. Little Joe is busy trying to beat Hoss at checkers. I told him three games and no more before he is to go to bed. I put Hoss in charge and told them I wanted some time to talk with you. Little Joe giggled. I think he thinks that you're in some kind of trouble for arriving home late. He doesn't understand the difference yet between a son who is a young man and a son who is a young boy."

So Adam told his father what had happened not sparing any details. Adam was a remarkable storyteller with an amazing memory. By the time he finished his story, Ben felt as if he had been in that saloon watching the whole thing unfold. He put an arm around his son's shoulders and told him what Roy had told him. Any observer would not have blamed Adam in the least, but Ben could tell that Adam still blamed himself. Only time would help, but then three days later Adam arrived home even more upset after Nellie had blasted him with her accusations. Ben wished he could do more for his son, but knew that it was a burden only Adam could put down. He would pray that his son would be able to do that someday, and forgive himself for not being able to control events that affected him. He knew that Adam tried so hard to do things the right way and scourged himself when that didn't always happen. He knew too that Adam's anger would be unleashed at his father, at his brothers, and any unfortunate soul who happened to cross him until he came to terms with what had happened. In time, this whole event was only a bad memory buried under years of other memories and experiences.

Chapter 2 in 1861

Standing in his surgery and staring at a mangled corpse of what had been a pretty saloon girl, Doctor Paul Martin spoke very sadly but efficiently. "Roy, Sally is a mess. The left side of her face and half of her throat have been nearly chewed away. I have no idea what killed her because she's so battered and mutilated, but it looks like she suffered knife wounds by some of the incisions I can see. I can tell you too that she fought back at first. Her fingertips are bloody and her nails have blood under them. She scratched her attacker, whoever it was."

"So, Doc, ifn we see a man with scratches, we oughta be talking to him about where he got em? I don't suppose you could tell me where those scratches would be?"

"Sorry, Roy, that's all we have. Her attacker was scratched."

"A darn shame, a pretty little thing like that and hurt so bad. Well, I guess I'll go tell Sam what happened. He's the one told me she was missing when she didn't come into work today. He said she had the early shift and that she is never late. We found her laying in the back of that little place she's got down behind the mercantile. She was trying to have a garden there behind the place, and that's where we found her or what was left of her. You're sure it's her, aren't you?"

"As sure as I can be, Roy. It would help if Sam could come over here and identify this dress as the one she was wearing last night."

"I'll ask him to do that right off. Can't be busy over there this early. I'm sure one of the gals can work the bar for the short time it would take him to do that for her. You got any idea when this happened?"

"I would guess late last night or very early this morning. Probably shortly after she got done with work. You might ask Sam if he knows when she left last night. I don't know how wolves or coyotes got to her body in town like that especially with no one noticing, but the blood is dried and black so she's been dead quite a while. The only thing not stained by blood is this red feather in her hair."

"Well, I'll keep that in case it means something, but I would think a saloon gal with a feather in her hair ain't so unusual."

"No, probably not."

"Now, you sure she died of them stab wounds and not from them animals that got to her?"

"Again, I'm as sure as I can be."

"Thanks, Doc. I know this kind of thing ain't easy for you to do. I got nothing to go on so far, so I'm keeping this feather as the only evidence I got. I saw Hoss and Adam riding in earlier. I'm going to go see them and see if they can look for tracks or something near Sally's place. I know Adam liked Sally so I'm thinking he'll want to help."

Roy found Hoss and Adam at the general store talking with customers who were filling them in on what they knew of the grisly murder of Sally. When Roy got close to them and called their names, he was surprised to see scratches on Adam's face. He had to ask.

"Yesterday I was pulling strays out of box canyons or any other place they tried to hide. One calf was stuck in some brush, and when I went in to free him, a branch scraped across my face. Hop Sing already doctored them up for me when I got back home this morning."

"So you weren't home last night?"

"No, but why would that matter to you?"

"Oh, it doesn't really, but I got to ask cause you knew Sally real well, and whoever attacked her got scratched by her. Doc found blood on her fingertips and under her nails. She fought like the dickens to try to live."

Adam offered to pay any expenses for Sally to be buried properly, and then he and Hoss went with Roy to see if they could find any tracks near where she had been murdered. It didn't take long for Adam to call Hoss over to where he had been looking.

"Are these wolf tracks? If they are, it's the biggest wolf I've ever seen."

Hoss was as amazed as Adam and then so was Roy when they told him that those were the only tracks they found other than those from Roy and Clem who had discovered the body and carried her to the doctor's office. "Roy, the only tracks like this I ever seen was when that crazy old Otis crossed his hounds with a wolf bitch. He had some mighty big beasts from doing that, but he's been dead for at least six years, ain't it?"

Roy looked over at Adam who was studiously avoiding the conversation at that point. "Hoss, you don't suppose any of those beasts got away and had young'uns, do ya?"

"Could be, Roy, although Otis swore that they couldn't have young and that the only way he got more was to keep that wolf and his prize hound together."

There were no other tracks that they could find at that spot so they assumed that any other tracks had been covered by the wolf or by Roy and Clem as they rolled the body in a blanket to carry it away. After returning to the general store to load up the supplies they had ordered, Adam and Hoss both felt the need for a drink. They headed to the saloon and offered their condolences to Sam who always watched out for the girls who worked in his saloon. Two men in the saloon made some pointed comments implying that Adam had killed Sally. He had known her well and been with her often, he had no alibi, and he had scratches on his face. To some, that meant he must be guilty. Adam wanted to fight, but Hoss ushered him out of the saloon before he could fight the two men. A black cat followed the two men out of the saloon and down the road out of town. A saloon girl who favored feather boas was sitting with the two men and encouraging their commentary because she disliked Adam Cartwright intensely. She had a satisfied look when Hoss had to propel Adam out of the saloon and make him head home. No one had recognized her so she felt even safer.

In the next month, trips to Carson City and Sacramento as well as work on the Ponderosa kept Adam out of town except when he was leaving or returning by stage. One month after Sally's murder, the two men who had harassed Adam about Sally's death met the same fate as the unfortunate saloon girl. Their mutilated and eviscerated bodies were found by the liveryman as he went to put the horses from the corral into the stable for the night. He retched up his dinner and then went to get Roy and Clem. The two lawmen were as shocked as they had been when Sally was killed. There was no question that the murders were connected. Each man had a red feather stuck in his hat band. Their hats and clothing were the only ways to identify them because both men were unrecognizable except for the purple neck scarves as well as purple plaid shirts the two men preferred to wear. They had purchased new clothing recently enough that Mr. Cass was able to say it was the clothing that they had purchased that was on the bodies. It was a reasonably bright night with a full moon. Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road, a long, agonized wailing, as if from fear. Both Roy and Clem shivered a bit hearing that sound, but wouldn't admit to each other how much it unnerved them. In the saloon, Sam heard the howl as well, and that's when Sam remembered that he had heard the same eerie wail the night that Sally was murdered. He told one of the girls to watch the bar and went to tell Roy and Clem. They were discussing what would likely happen when news of the new atrocity spread through town. Clem looked over at Roy.

"You know some people are going to think Adam Cartwright had something to do with this. These are the two men who harassed him every chance they got saying that he murdered Sally and got away with it."

"I know that, and I'll go talk to him, but you know, and I know, he could never do anything like this, murdering two men in cold blood in such an awful way especially. I don't know what kind of man could do something like this. The other mystery is that I still don't know how a wolf or coyote can get to these bodies in town without us seeing or hearing anything at all. And how does that beast get here before we even know there's been a murder? There's something wrong with how all this has happened. I feel like I'm missing a big part of the puzzle or I'm just not seeing how things fit together."

Roy and Clem had been talking where the liveryman could hear them. He heard them mention Adam and also heard Roy's comments about red feathers. He repeated all that he could remember when he went to the saloon for a drink to calm himself. Amid the angry talk about Adam, Sam was thoughtful. He had a new gal working at the saloon for the past two months. She was young and she liked to wear feather boas. There were red feathers in each of them. He decided to watch her. He had known from the moment he hired her that there was something off about her but she was popular with the patrons even if the others girls avoided her when they could.

The next morning, Roy rode out to the Ponderosa to talk with Adam and warn him not to come into town until things calmed down. But Adam wasn't there. Again Adam had no alibi as he was out riding fence lines and hadn't come home yet at that point. Roy told Ben to tell Adam to stay put for a few days. As Roy rode out, he saw a black cat sitting on the corral fence watching him. Despite the legends he had heard about black cats, this one made him feel better somehow. Things stayed heated in town for days and then weeks as people began to suggest that Roy was covering for Adam. Joe did go to town, but things didn't go well, and he got into an altercation with a card shark.

"You cheat at cards. I heard your older brother is a cheat too and a murderer on top of that."

"You take that back, all of it, or you need to step outside and settle this like a man." Joe was furious and ready to fight. The pressure of hearing these stories about his older brother was getting to be too much. Needing to get some of the frustration out of his system meant he was probably ready to fight before he ever got to town. The antagonistic taunts by the card shark were only the spark for the explosives already set to blow.

Fortunately, it never went further than that. Alerted by Clem that Joe was in town, Roy had gone to the saloon to talk with him. He arrived at the same time as Joe heard the taunts and issued his challenge. Roy stepped in and moved quickly between Joe and the card shark. "Now, Joe, I don't want any fighting in town. It's been peaceful, and I aim to keep it that way."

"So these blowhards can keep shooting off their mouths about my brother and then he accuses me of being a cheat and we can't do anything about it?"

"Now, Joe, you know that if you had to shoot every person who ever badmouthed you and your family, we'd have a war going on here between your family and the people who's jealous of what you family's got. You know your pa wouldn't approve of you fighting like this. Now go on home and it'd be best if you stayed there."

"You're kicking me out of town too. Roy, you know that makes it look like we did something wrong."

"No, I'm thinking it makes you look smart enough to stay away from trouble. Now go on home. I'll have a word with this card shark and maybe he'll be getting out of town too."

So within a month of Sally's murder, only Ben and Hoss were free to go to town although neither enjoyed it because each time they heard ugly rumors about Adam. Finally Hoss decided he would go to town with the hands on a Saturday night and do his best to have a good time and forget about all the troubles they had been having. He saw the sour look that his news elicited from Joe but worried more about Adam's silence.

Roy's warning that any more loud mouth taunting of anyone was getting the ones who did it a night in jail meant that nothing happened in the saloon that night. Hoss and the hands had some beers and kept company with the saloon girls even singing a few songs. The only unusual thing for Sam was that he saw the new saloon gal put a red feather in the lapel of the card shark who had been working the saloons around town and was back in his saloon for the first time since having trouble with Joe. Sam had loaded up his shotgun shells with salt pellets. He thought it might be useful if there was trouble in the saloon, but when he saw her do that, he surreptitiously reloaded the weapon with shells loaded with large buckshot. When it was time to close, Sam quickly locked up without cleaning up and followed the card shark out the door. He had his shotgun at the ready. Hoss had walked out with him and asked about the shotgun.

"Hoss, just be ready for anything. I got a feeling that there's going to be big trouble tonight."

Sam continued to watch and listen until suddenly a large, dark mass leaped from the roof of the boarding house directly onto the card shark walking below. Sam ran forward and fired one shot and then another at the large man. Both missed apparently but slowed him and made him turn to face Hoss and Sam. Hoss drew and fired as well while Sam was reloading. In the dark, it was hard to hit a moving target and neither man could be sure that they had hit their target. As the assailant drew near, neither man could miss although apparently they didn't hit anything crucial. They still could not imagine how the man kept his feet and actually began to advance on them with a large Bowie knife in his hand. Sam fired again hitting the beastly apparition in the left shoulder and that spun him around and felled him. Hoss reloaded frantically as Sam fired another shot directly into the chest of the behemoth as he struggled to stand. That threw him on his back where he made growling sounds.

Hearing the firing, Roy and Clem had run to see what was wrong and arrived just as a large wolf-dog joined the fray and was advancing on Hoss and Sam. They began firing at the beast as well until it was bleeding profusely, and then Sam fired again severing the head from the body. The beast fell then and its head rolled away. The men stood gaping and unwilling to believe any of what they had just seen. Roy walked over to the huge man who had died. He pushed open the man's coat to reveal steel plates attached to his chest and abdomen. That's what had made Sam's first shotgun blasts ineffective as well as shots from Hoss' pistol.

Hoss spoke first. "It musta been the dark that made it seem like he was bigger and furry. Now that is the biggest wolf-dog I ever saw. It's like someone wanted a beast bigger and meaner than anything God ever intended."

Sam agreed. "We shot and shot and not a single soul would ever believe a single solitary word of what we did and that giant kept moving toward us."

A large crowd was gathering. With lanterns and moonlight, the scene was soon reasonably well lit. The knife lying beside the giant man and the headless wolf-dog laying not far from him was going to feed some rumors and story telling for a long time to come. Roy asked some men to carry the dead man to the undertaker's office and for others to remove the dead animal. From the shadows, a woman watched. She knew she would need a new beast. Using a surrogate to attack her victims had been a method she thought would work but obviously had not succeeded for her plan was only partially accomplished and not she had neither the beast nor the accomplice left. It could take a year or more to come up with what she needed. Next time, she decided that she would not use such an elaborate plan. She had caused Adam some discomfort, but he had never truly been in danger. Nellie was well aware that Sam had suspected her activity so she knew she would also need a new identity again, but somehow she would make sure that Adam Cartwright died for what he had done. Someday he would pay for killing her father. Otis Randall's death would be avenged. She melted into the darkness with her feather boa slung over her shoulder.

One month later, a letter arrived for Adam who still seldom went to town. He was sitting on the porch with the black cat on his lap. He had found the cat liked to sit with him and he took some comfort from its presence. Hoss brought the mail over to the porch and handed the letter to him. Adam opened it to find that all that was inside was a single red feather that floated to the floor when he stood abruptly and dropped it like it was a burning match that singed his fingers. The black cat ran off to the stable to find a more peaceful place to relax. Adam looked at Hoss who looked back at him with the same worried expression.

Chapter 3

The attack on the card shark was the last one of that type. The man survived some grievous wounds inflicted by the large man with the knife who was never identified. The reasons for the attacks were never understood, and Sam's assertion that Cassie McGovern had something to do with it because of the red feathers never made sense to anyone although they didn't doubt Sam's observations. Cassie's disappearance the night of the last attack and the red feather received a month later by Adam did cause many to assume she had somehow been involved and that the next target might be Adam. In retrospect, it was clear that all of the victims were tied to Adam. What the motive could be never occurred to anyone except that it seemed to be targeting Adam. But time passed and nothing happened that was in any way similar to the earlier attacks. All of Roy's efforts to locate Cassie failed, and they did not have enough evidence to charge her with a crime so there were no wanted posters either. In time, the whole unsolved mystery was put aside as many in the west were because of the transient population that often made Roy's job to solve crimes nearly impossible. Even Adam was able to put the whole situation behind him although once again there were those feelings of guilt as he wondered what he had done and to whom to have caused those brutal attacks. Even the presence of the wolf-dog never led anyone to connect Nellie Randall to the crimes.

(the story Foolish Chances is the background for the rest of this chapter, but there should be enough information contained in this chapter to summarize what happened previously)

in 1870

Locked in a cell like a criminal, Gretchen Janus tried to plot how she could escape the institution into which she had been committed. She had thought that once she had manipulated the court in Virginia City, she would just as easily manipulate the staff of this hospital for the insane. Little did she know that it was harder to get out of one of these hospitals than it would have been to get out of prison. She did her best to appear sane and act the way any sane person would act, but she found the staff doubted that she was so easily cured. So instead she tolerated their treatments and told them how much better they made her feel. She told them that she was feeling better and better every day. However she wasn't. The food, the treatments, and the lack of sleep with real crazy people moaning and screaming all through the night were making her weaker. She did her best to keep up her physical strength, but everything seemed to be working against that in this place. By the end of two months, she knew that something had to change or she might become crazy or get sick like some were and die of some nameless disease in a cell and be buried in an unmarked grave next to the cold stone walls and barred windows of this place.

There was one big boned but pretty woman in there with Gretchen. She listened intently every time Gretchen groused about Adam Cartwright and how he had put her in here and how she wished she could get even with him. Gretchen knew she was going to need help so she asked to be put in a room with that woman instead of the women who shrieked all night.

"You sure you want to be with her? She thinks she's a witch. She talks about black cats and spells and all sorts of stuff like that. She's darn spooky."

"She's quiet though, and I can sleep better. You want met to sleep better and get well again, don't you?" And Gretchen had used her considerable acting talent and charm to get that room assignment changed to what she wanted. When she entered the room with the woman, she introduced herself.

"Well, you can call me Mary Arnold which all of them does in here, or you can call me Cassie or Nellie. I've used those names too. I'll answer to any one of them. It's another reason they think I'm crazy. I told them that Benedict Arnold is my father. That and other stuff got me out of a murder conviction and getting my neck stretched. I didn't hanker at all to be the first woman to get the rope in Nevada."

"Who did you kill?"

"Oh, some tater digger who thought he could get more from me than I wanted to give. When I pulled my knife on him and demanded he pay up, he came for me. I guess he thought I didn't know how to use it. He was wrong."

"But that sounds like self-defense. Was he a farmer?"

"Oh, it was, and course he was. Didn't I just say that? That time it was, but you see I had used the same story when I slit some heifer harasser when I needed some money. I said he'd attacked me and I had to defend myself. It was a lie, but you see they didn't know it then. People here definitely have a hard time believing a woman could kill though. I acted all crazy and weird and they sent me here. I'm still alive, but some days, I'm not so sure that's a good thing. Now I seen a lot of crazy people here, and you ain't one of 'em so what's your story?"

"So the first one was a cowboy?" At Mary's nod, Gretchen decided to tell her story. She had only begun telling what had happened to her when Mary grabbed her and pressed her up against the wall.

"You better be telling the truth. If this is some trick by Adam Cartwright to get the truth about me, then you're gonna wake up dead in the morning."

"If you let me go so I can breathe, I'll tell you why I hate Adam Cartwright and want him dead." Mary released some pressure and demanded that Gretchen keep talking. "I killed my parents, my sister, and my husband. I covered it up very well, but then I made a couple of huge errors. Adam treated me badly many years ago and I hated him for that. When I saw him come back from wherever he really was and he had a wife, a son, and probably a treasure chest of money, I lost my temper and decided I would kill him too. Well, I didn't plan nearly as well as I did with the others. I acted out of emotion and that was a mistake. I shot him, but he lived, and worse than that, I had told him the other things I had done. I assumed he would die when I shot him in the chest, but he lived and set the law on me telling them all those things I had told him. My plan was too simple. I should have worked on it more."

Stepping back, Mary released Gretchen. "I want him dead too, but my plan was too complicated. It fell apart because the man I hired got killed, and they suspected I had something to do with the things he did. I had to get out of town. By the time I had another beastie to use to kill Adam and rip him apart, he was gone. I moved on and got in the trouble that got me sent here."

"Why did you want to kill him?"

"I still want to kill him. He killed my Pa. Then I got sent to live with my aunt in California where nothing I did was good enough. I didn't talk good enough. I didn't dress good enough. You can bet I hated it there, and I got out of there as soon as I could. Say, you don't trust nobody in here. Why'd you trust me?"

"Oh, I talked to that guard who's so smitten with you. He loves talking about you too. When I found out how long you have been in here, I knew you couldn't have been put here by Adam Cartwright to get the truth about me. Now, I think perhaps we could work together. We both want the same things."

"Things?"

"Yes, we want to get out of here, we want Adam Cartwright dead, and then we want to be able to live well for the rest of our lives free of any man telling us what to do."

"Oh, yeah, we do want the same things. What I don't understand is why you still want him dead."

"They might still want to find a way to try me for some crimes. He's the one who could testify against me to get me convicted of something. They only tried me for my husband's death and for shooting Adam. I'm guessing that they're clever enough to come up with other charges, but if he's dead, they have no witness and no solid evidence against me."

"Well, first, how do you think we're gonna get outta here?"

"Oh, I think you're going to convince one of the hospital guards to let us go. You know that Haroldson wants you so how about letting him have you?"

"Yeah, that will probably work. But he'll tell soon enough. And where can we go? And what are we gonna do about money?"

"He won't tell if he comes with us and if he opens the doors for a bunch of these other women. You tell him he gets what he wants as soon as we're far enough away from this building. He'll be panting like a dog at that point."

"Oh, yeah, with all these goonie birds running around, they won't realize we're missing until they round all of 'em up, but still, we're gonna need clothes and horses."

"We only have to get to my brother-in-law's store. I told him that I didn't kill my sister or my parents. I told him I did kill my husband because he was beating me and locking me up. He kinda fet sorry for me after that and he never liked old Janus anyway. I said I shot Adam because he tried to have his way with me, and I wouldn't do it. He's not too bright and he likes money. I sweetened the pot by telling him he could have all the money from selling my parents' place as long as he had my money ready for me whenever I showed up to get it. He bought into a mercantile store here in town and got himself a little house for him and the brats he has. We'll get inside that store and wait for him to come inside in the morning. We'll have nice new clothes, money, and he can get some horses for us."

"What about the guard?"

"We'll dispose of him as soon as we can."

"You mean like kill him? I kinda like him, and he's gonna help us get out of here."

"Do you like him enough for him to tell what we done and that we're not crazy and deserve to 'stretch a rope'?"

"No, no, I don't like him that much. All right, we gotta plan out the details. We can think about this and decide on the day to do it. I'm thinking Sunday would be best. There's a smaller staff on duty on Sunday, and not so many people out and around town and such either." Gretchen had been thinking about the best time to get rid of her temporary ally when something Mary said eliminated that thought. "And I got a place we can go that nobody will find us until we're ready to strike. Nobody ever took over my pa's place. It may be needing some cleaning up and a few things like that, but we could live there for months or even a year without anybody noticing. I can provide all the food and firewood we need."

Over a week later, Joe was in Virginia City picking up some supplies and the mail. He purchased a copy of the Territorial Enterprise as well as the San Francisco paper that had arrived on the stage that morning as well as a copy of the Carson City newspaper from the day before. He knew his father liked to spend his evenings reading the papers when they were available and smiled as he thought about how pleased his father would be to get three newspapers in one day. Joe got that exactly correct. Ben was very pleased and thanked Joe several times for his thoughtfulness. After dinner, Ben took a cup of coffee over to his favorite chair, the red leather one by the fireplace. With a nice toasty fire, a comfortable chair, and some excellent coffee, he settled back to read. He didn't even tell Joe to get his feet off the table as he looked at the San Francisco paper first. It was an hour later before he picked up the Carson City paper. Suddenly he sat bolt upright and slid forward to sit on the edge of his chair.

"No, it can't be."

"Pa, what's wrong?" As he had been playing checkers, Joe had been watching his father read.

"There's been a patient breakout at the hospital in Carson City where Gretchen was sent. Ben read part of the story he had just begun reading. All patients have been apprehended and returned to the prison except for two women placed there as criminally insane. Mary Arnold and Gretchen Janus have yet to be found. The public is warned that they might be dangerous. The hospital guard on duty when the mass breakout occurred was found stabbed to death only about one hundred yards from the hospital. It is not known if the two missing patients were responsible, but considering their violent pasts, it is believed they may have been the assailants. Ben looked up to see his whole family regarding him with shock. Mo was pale. Adam wrapped an arm around her shoulders and asked Joe if he would take Benny into the kitchen.

"Pa, she'll come back here."

"Adam, perhaps not. What could she gain by coming back here?"

"Revenge, and to eliminate the main witness against her."

"She has a distinct disadvantage now though. Everyone will be looking for her. There will be wanted posters up for her. If the government doesn't do it, I'll have thousands of them printed if I have to. She will not invade our house nor harm our family."

For many months, nothing was heard from Gretchen Janus. After nearly a year passed, it seemed she wouldn't be back. The official word from the authorities was that the two women likely perished in the wilderness. They had left with only hospital smocks and slippers. With no food, blankets, food, or transportation, it was believed that the two women could not have survived. Adam and his family didn't believe it for a moment, but hoped that perhaps they had gone far away and wouldn't return. They kept on the lookout, but after a year, it was difficult to maintain enough vigilance when there were so many other things they had to do. It did stop Adam from considering building his own home. He wanted the protection of his father and brothers as well as the hands for his wife and son.

Nothing had been heard from Gretchen because it took her that long though to be sure that the authorities had given up on ever finding them Then she had to come up with a plan and to make all the preparations for it. One thing was the breeding of new wolf-dogs which she had learned about from Mary. She liked that part of Mary's plan and decided that she could use it. Attacks on livestock on the Ponderosa and other ranches had people upset and worried a year after the prison escape. Not a single person ever connected the two, and of course, why would they for no one knew that Mary Arnold was Nellie Randall, and that she was living in her father's place walking out to his grave almost daily and vowing vengeance.

"You taught me well, Pa. I got them wolf-dogs nearly ready to go. They're young yet and they could use some growing up, but they'll do. Soon, Adam Cartwright will be ripped apart by them while I watch. You keep an eye out for that too. I know you'd like to see it happen. First though, he's gonna give us the money to live real well after we leave this place. I'm sorry I'm gonna have to leave ya permanent like, but once them dogs do what they do so well, people will be up here looking around. I gotta be gone by then, Pa. I know you'll understand."

Several times Gretchen heard May have this one-sided conversation. She was thinking that perhaps Mary wouldn't have to abandon her father or her mother either. Gretchen was working on a plan within a plan. There were even times when she considered giving up on her plan and moving on especially because she had gradually understood that her partner actually was insane, but she never decided to quit her plan because foremost in her mind was the fear that she would be hunted for the rest of her life. She saw only one way out of that which was to eliminate Adam Cartwright.

Chapter 4

"Pa, the throats been ripped out of full grown steers. It's not for the meat either. Must a been only two or three of them big wolves and they killed two steers. They ate some, but mostly it seemed they were tearing 'em apart more than anything."

Hoss was shaken by what he had seen. The hands had reported two dead steers but hadn't been specific about the condition of the dead animals. These attacks had occurred on the Ponderosa as well as on several ranches nearby but over the last week, it had only been on the Ponderosa and the attacks were occurring closer together so that it was clear that the wolves were not hungry but were killing for the sake of killing. Each killing seemed more vicious than the one before it.

"Same tracks as before though?" Even as he asked the question, Ben was certain he knew what the answer would be.

"Shur is, Pa. I haven't seen tracks like that since those killings took place almost ten years ago in Virginia City. Roy asked me and Adam to take a look at those tracks then, but that animal was killed. I still gotta wonder if some of Otis' wolf-dogs survived and ended up having some litters."

Adam shivered a bit hearing Hoss talk about that. By this time, they knew that he had been the main target in those attacks. It was only Sam's acute observation skills and Hoss' help that had led to the killing of the man who had done those attacks and the beast he had with him. But Cassie McGovern had disappeared. Adam wondered if she was back. Leaning against the desk where his father sat, Adam was worried. "Pa, the attacks have been getting more and more frequent and seem to be targeting the Ponderosa. Is it possible that someone has started raising wolf-dogs like Otis Randall did and is seeking some kind of revenge on us?" Adam meant 'me' but wasn't ready yet to admit that was exactly his worry.

At that point Mo was worried especially because she didn't know about this earlier tragedy. "What happened and why would you worry that someone is targeting the Ponderosa?"

Ben crooked an eyebrow at Adam as if to ask him how much he was going to tell her. He wasn't surprised when Adam spoke about the deaths and that it seemed the family was being targeted then without specifying that he was the target in the family. When Adam finished the story he was willing to tell, he and Ben warned Mo that she and Benny should never be outside without someone with them who was armed.

"I could carry a shotgun."

"Mo, that might not be enough. There are at least two of these animals around and with only two shots, you would be at great risk yet, and Benny would be unprotected." Adam was glad his father said that. If he had, Mo might have thought to assert her independence anyway, but with Ben advising her to be careful, there was no contest of wills between them. She nodded and went to find Benny to let him know the new rule for venturing outdoors.

"Pa, we should make sure that someone is with Hop Sing when he does his outside chores as well. No one should travel alone, and everyone needs to watch for anything unusual."

"Hoss, I agree we should have someone with Hop Sing when he works outside the house. Why don't you talk to the hands. I'll go down to the breaking corrals and talk with Joe to let him do the same with his crew down there. Adam, perhaps you could ride to tell Candy and the men doing the roundup?"

"Alone? You trying to get rid of me, Pa?" Adam quirked up an eyebrow in imitation of his father, but a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

"No, of course I'm not trying to get rid of you. I simply have to get used to this new system myself. You and Hoss talk to the hands and then ride up and talk to the roundup crew. While you're out there, perhaps the two best trackers in the area could try to find where these vicious beasts go when they're not destroying cattle."

Hoss chuckled at his father's first comment but sobered up quickly. There wasn't much to chuckle about when thinking about the attacks on cattle and the fear that humans could be at risk too if they got too close to the savage beasts who were doing the vicious killings. Hoss and Adam were emphatic when they talked with the men, and Hoss left them with a warning that probably made their skin crawl.

"You know how it is with wolves and cougars once they take down a man. They get a taste for it, it seems and like how easy it is. You want your friends and family to be safe, you best keep a good watch even when you use the necessary. It might be best if you didn't do that at night at all. We'll keep some lanterns lit until the danger is taken care of, but that ain't gonna be that much help. They like as not will come at you when you don't even know they're there. The lanterns are only gonna be a help to the men who shoot at the beasts who killed ya."

As Hoss and Adam walked to the stable, Adam mentioned that he had laid it on pretty thick with the hands. Hoss stopped once they got into the stable and looked around to see if anyone was near them.

"Last time she came for you, seems to me that three people got killed and one was maimed. This time I only want to make sure it's nobody we know."

"She? You know who it is?"

"About as well as you do and Pa does. I think we all been thinking the same thing. Whoever did this knows about those devil wolf-dogs. Now who do you suppose that could be?"

"Cassie McGovern is back. But Hoss, who is Cassie McGovern and why does she want me dead? I've asked myself that question for years until it seemed like she was never coming back. Now it seems she may be back, but I still don't have any answers."

"I think you do, but you don't want to say it cause you been carrying that load of guilt so long, you up and convinced yourself that there's a reason to feel guilty. Otis created the situation and you had no choice but to shoot him. Now, you can keep trying to convince yourself that ain't the truth, but it is. You always do that. You take on the responsibility for anything that don't go right. Well, older brother, you aren't perfect and you can't control what other people got going on inside their heads. Now I want to know. Did you ever try to track down Nellie Randall?"

With a deep sigh, Adam looked at Hoss with resignation. He had been trying to convince himself that this wasn't all related but knew it was. Having Hoss say it to him was what he needed to face it. "Yes, I tried. She left her aunt's house less than two years after she got there. They had never heard anything from her. And before you ask, no one ever knew a Cassie McGovern working saloons except for here in Virginia City. There was no trace of her before or after."

"You tell your wife any of this?" By Adam's look, Hoss could tell that he hadn't done that. "You need to tell her. Keeping this from her isn't fair to her or to you. I can tell she suspects something by the way she looks at you when we talk about these attacks. She knows you know more than you're saying. You like having a wife, dontcha?"

"Of course, I do. I love her."

"Well, by my way of thinking, you're risking all of that by not telling her the truth. When we get back today, you need to tell her everything you know and everything you suspect. The whole family ought to be talking about this. If we find what I think we're gonna find then we need to tell Roy too."

Nodding in agreement, Adam moved to saddle his horse as Hoss saddled his. They rode and talked about less serious things until they reached the roundup and told Candy what they wanted for the men. He was very agreeable to the recommendations and had one of his own.

"I think we ought to have some wagons out here for the men to use to sleep. It would add some protection. I know it's not much but better than sleeping around a small campfire."

Adam looked over at Hoss who nodded. "Candy, Hoss and I are going to see if we can find some tracks from that latest kill. Could you send a couple of men to get two wagons. Use the big hay wagons. That should be enough for the whole crew to sleep out here and you can pull them with you each day as you move higher into the hills. You know how to keep them away from trees and brush too, right?"

"Right. I'll set it up like an army camp when we were on campaign."

The two brothers agreed and told him to do whatever it took to keep the men safe. Then they rode back toward the ranch house because the kills were closer to the house than the roundup. Both noted that too. As they got to the kill area, the stench was strong and flies buzzed around them. Hoss noted that they didn't need to get too close.

"Let's ride a wide circle around the kills until we pick up their tracks. Ride slow and easy because we don't want to miss any sign."

"It's not like I haven't done this kind of thing before."

"I know that, but you been gone for a while. I didn't know what you mighta forgotten."

"I don't forget anything."

"Then you keep a watch because you ought to remember that you're probably the target. You can bet that whoever it is might just be keeping a watch on us."

Adam knew better than to look around as if he knew that. Instead although he appeared to be looking at the same ground Hoss was examining as they rode, he was instead looking out toward the trees and hills around them trying to spot any movement or anything out of the ordinary. They saw nothing and found nothing.

"So, it's exactly what we thought. These animals are here with the help of some people who did their best to brush out the tracks. Did you see where that was?"

"Yes, I saw it, and I saw the direction that the brushed out area indicated. I'm afraid we're right about who's doing this."

"Do you want to follow that brushed out trail?"

"No, we don't know what we'll be facing. I'd rather have more men with us when we try that. Let's tell Roy to see if he can get any more information now that we're sure that Nellie and Cassie are the same person. Someone has to know something."

"Adam, and you got to tell Mo all about this. She has a right to know the whole truth about what we're facing."

"You're right. I'll tell her." Adam was concerned about that. They had faced so much trouble already because of his past. He was worried that at some point she might get fed up with it. Hoss could see the worry in his expression and his demeanor.

"She loves you older brother. She'll stand beside you no matter what. She's a strong woman. You gotta give her a chance to show it."

"Thank you, Hoss. I needed a good chastisement. Will you talk with Pa and Joe while I explain to Mo? I want to do that in private."

"Joe knows and Pa knows too. We talked, and Pa asked me to talk with you. He said you'd take, what was that thing you called it, well he said you'd take it better coming from me, and I wanted to do it. For a long time now, I thought we oughta talk about it and get everything out in the open."

Hoss watched the expressions that Adam had before he finally talked. He could read his older brother a lot better than Adam thought he could. He knew he was angry at first that his father had said that. Then he knew it was probably the best way to proceed as he thought about it and accepted that the logic of the situation was correct. Finally, Hoss saw how worried he looked and correctly surmised that Adam was worried about Mo's reaction to what he had to tell her.

"She's a strong woman, Adam. Ain't no other kind of woman could live with you."

With a scowl, Adam answered. "I know that, but I lied to her." That did surprise Hoss, but he said nothing because he knew Adam was likely to explain it to him as soon as he decided how best to do that. It didn't take long. "I had a bad dream last night. I woke Mo up. I was drenched with sweat, and she knew it had been a particularly bad one. When she asked me, I said it was about the killings and I feared that she or Benny could be a victim of those animals. Hoss, that wasn't it. I dreamed that they came for me. They were tearing me apart as a woman stood there laughing. Mo may have known I wasn't telling the truth, but she did her best to calm me so the two of us could get back to sleep. I have a feeling she didn't sleep well after that. I was so exhausted that I fell back asleep."

Once they arrived home and put their horses in the stable with fresh feed and water, Adam and Hoss carefully closed the stable doors. Inside the house, Adam asked Mo if he could speak with her up in their bedroom. She turned and walked up the stairs without waiting for Adam. Every step she took and every move she made let everyone know she was unhappy. Adam stood for a moment before following her. Ben made only one comment

"Son, in my experience, it doesn't get any better by waiting."

Expelling a deep breath, Adam continued up the stairs. When he reached their room, he paused at the doorway as he saw Mo with her back to him and staring out the window. He stepped into the room and closed the door. She turned toward him and he could see anger, disappointment, and probably fear in her expressions as she thought of what she wanted to say.

"Are you going to lie to me again and tell me that what they're discussing downstairs is only ranch business?"

Holding back his first angry retort, Adam reminded himself that he deserved that one at the very least. He wanted to tell the truth and at the same time wanted to protect her from the truth. He couldn't do both and knew it. Finally truth and conscience won out and he admitted it. "I did lie to you last night, but I haven't lied about anything else. At first, I did think it was ranch business and so ghastly that I didn't think you needed to know the details."

"And now I do?"

"Unfortunately, yes, you do. I asked you to speak in private not to hold anything back but so that we could express anything we needed to say, and apparently you did. I expected that and deserved it. I should never have lied to you even about a bad dream."

"Adam, it was a nightmare. You were shaking and sweating. I knew you had dreamed something terrible. Tell me what it was."

"Many years ago, I killed a man, Otis Randall, who drew on me because he lost a hand at cards. He'd been drinking, but he was a sour man and prone to doing violent things. His daughter, Nellie Randall, blamed me and said she'd see me dead one day for it. Years later, there were a series of ghastly murders in town and it seemed to implicate me until the man doing it was killed. Each victim had a red feather that apparently came from a saloon girl named Cassie McGovern."

"How are those two things tied together?"

"We now believe that Nellie and Cassie are the same person. Otis had several wolf-dogs. He crossed some big hounds with a wolf. There were larger than a wolf and more vicious. An animal like that attacked all of the people who were killed after they were stabbed. It seems that Nellie may have raised herself one of those too."

"And now you think she's back and behind these attacks, and if she is, then she's coming after you, and you're worried about me and Benny."

"That about sums it up."

"Isn't the solution obvious then? You have to hunt down those beasts and find her?"

Chapter 5

When Adam and Mo walked down the stairs together, the rest of the family collectively breathed a sigh of relief. They had enough trouble without having dissension within the family. They sat down together to discuss options. Joe's idea got the most discussion when he suggested that perhaps it would be safest for Adam to take his family and go to San Francisco for a short time.

"We can send wires and keep in good communication, but it will give us more time to find her and those beasts of hers."

"I don't want to leave all of you facing her and those wolf-dogs without my help."

"Adam, we need to think about Benny too and the great risk to him in this situation. She's targeted other people before. What if she decides to get to you by attacking our son?"

Adam knew that Mo's question was rhetorical but it still rankled. He wanted to do the right thing as he always did, but in this situation, it seemed there were several right things to do. He looked to his father then. "You think the best choice is to run away? We did that once and were gone for quite a while."

"Son, this is a very different situation. I have to agree with Mo and Joe. It does seem that you could protect your family better away from here, and we would be able to concentrate on hunting down those animals and finding that woman."

Conceding, Adam still had some concerns. "How would we leave without being seen? We would be in even more danger if we were caught out there without help."

After some discussion, it was decided that they could smuggle them to a way station much the same way they had once smuggled Mo and Benny into town to hide in the Chinese community. Then Mo had a question though.

"Why can't we hide in the Chinese community again? They were very good to us, and no white person would ever find us there."

Ben tried to be as gentle as possible and not say too much. "We couldn't expose the people there to that risk. They would have no defense against such things and the results could be catastrophic."

"Oh, I hadn't thought about that. We're safe in the house here though, aren't we?"

"Yes, we're all staying armed even indoors, and at night, we'll shutter the windows in addition to locking the doors. Hoss is setting some men on watch in safe positions. With some lanterns outside in strategic locations, they'll sound a warning if they see anything out of the ordinary. I think we ought to call Candy and his crew in from roundup to set up hunting parties to go after those beasts. Even though they're taking precautions, I don't feel right about having them outside in this situation."

"Pa, I agree. That whole situation has me edgy. Tomorrow morning, maybe me and Joe could ride out there and tell them to head on in at night. It means that they'll spend as much time riding in and out as they do working, but they should be safe. Those attacks have all occurred at night so far."

"First, let's get Adam and his family on a stage out of here. Then you can ride out to tell them the new arrangement."

"We need to pack for the trip then. I'll go get Benny from the kitchen and explain to him that we're going on a trip."

"Adam, I brought some laundry down today for Hop Sing to do, but I'll have to do it because we need Benny's clothing."

"Don't go outside to hang anything up unless I'm there with you. If the items aren't ready by morning, then we'll buy what we need when we get away from here."

Everything seemed to be going according to a plan until Mo came back from the laundry room. "Adam, did you do anything with Benny's dirty clothing and mine?"

"No, Mo, I don't do laundry unless I'm forced to do it. Never voluntarily. Why?"

"Because the laundry I brought down this morning is missing. My undergarments and all of Benny's clothing is missing."

Drawing his pistol, Adam told Mo and Benny to get over behind the desk with his father. He and Hoss headed toward the laundry room. Joe was going to go with them but Adam asked him to get a rifle and stand guard. Mo looked at Ben as if asking what was going on.

"My dear, Adam thinks that she's been here. I don't want to frighten you more than you already are, but there seems to be only one reason to take your clothing and that's to give a scent to those wolf-dogs."

"Oh, my God. She would set them on a child." Hearing the extreme worry in his mother's voice, Benny began to cry and ask what was wrong. She did her best then to say that his father would protect them and he shouldn't worry, but her heart was pounding. When she and Adam had talked about this earlier and then when the family discussed it, it was done with logic and common sense, but all she felt at this moment was fear. Adam had told her his nightmare in horrifying detail so that she could understand how he had been so upset and not willing to tell her the night before, but now she feared that for herself and their son. She wasn't sure she even wanted to think about going to sleep because of the worry about what she might face when she awakened. Soon she saw Adam and Hoss walk back in looking worried.

"Is it what you thought?" Mo knew her voice was tremulous but couldn't help it.

Adam and Hoss nodded not wanting to say anything in front of Benny that would make him more fearful than his mother's terrified state already had. Adam suggested that Benny sit at the dining table and have some early dinner while the rest of them talked 'business' which was a signal to Benny that the conversation would be very dull. He gladly accepted his father's suggestion.

Speaking quietly so Benny could not hear, Adam was still intense. "We found tracks that could be a woman's. They're small enough. She must have been here. Now what do we do? If the dogs have the scent, we can't risk trying to sneak out of here. They'll be able to follow us and because we don't know where they are at any point, how could we be sure we weren't walking right into an ambush?"

"We need Roy and the law in on this now. We can't handle this by ourselves and we need more information to make a plan." Adam noted how Mo had slipped back into the persona of the woman he had first met working for the government on secret projects except she was stronger now and more willing to state her opinion. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"Mo's right. We need some skilled help with this one. Because it's likely that this is Nellie just like it was years ago, Roy is going to want to help, and there may be some others we can call on to help us out too especially if we put a bounty on those beasts she has."

"Adam, we could put a bounty on those beasts but do you really want so many people trampling all over the Ponderosa? It's hard enough now to try to protect everyone. What would we do with so many others, especially strangers, all around."

"I like Adam's idea, Pa, but maybe we could hire some professional hunters instead. That way it wouldn't be so many, and we'd have some help. They could ride with men from the ranch who know their way around, but the hunters would know more about tracking and taking down such dangerous animals."

For a time, everyone was quiet thinking about all that had been said. Finally Adam added a sobering thought.

"If we do everything we've talked about, we could push her into doing something rash and even more unpredictable. I remember what she was like when she was young. She had quite a temper, and if that's still true, this could all provoke her too. Joe, you went to school with her for the short time she was there before the unfortunate incident. What do you remember?"

"She was like you said. She was weird. No one wanted to be with her because no one ever knew what she would do next, and she could be mean. She wasn't very smart, but she was very sneaky. The problem for her was that not being very smart, she got caught a lot for what she tried to hide. That's what finally got her kicked out of school, and no one missed her at all. She was a few years older than me, but I know that even the older students were nervous around her. We used to joke that living with the crazy girl is probably why her pa drank so much."

"What was the 'unfortunate incident' and why did a girl get kicked out of school?"

"Mo, the unfortunate incident answers both. Nellie brought some alcohol to school and shared it with the other students." With a sly look at Joe, Adam continued. "How Joe didn't get any of it is a mystery yet, but Nellie and the students who drank the alcohol were supposed to show up with their parents the next morning at school. Instead, all the parents and students except Nellie and Otis showed up. Someone had broken into the school the night before and defecated on the teacher's chair and smeared blood all over her desk. None of us were there but all reports were that everyone was shocked. Of course, Nellie was suspected. When she was confronted with it, she said the teacher had it coming as she was only trying to make friends. I guess the lesson was never to cross Nellie Randall."

"But you did when you killed her father in self-defense, but of course she doesn't see it that way."

"No, she wants me dead too. I never put it all together before, at least consciously, but it is obvious, isn't it. Nellie is Cassie McGovern too, but who is she now and what does she look like now?"

Ben interrupted then saying they all needed to have some dinner. It would give them all a chance to think about things and about everything they had to do. Hoss had a question though.

"What I don't understand is that Nellie has never been on the Ponderosa. How did she know how to sneak up to the house like that and get into the washroom without anybody seeing her?"

That got them thinking but again, they had no answers. Taking every precaution they could and alerting the hands that there had been an intruder earlier, the family retired early knowing how much had to be done the next day and not expecting anyone to sleep soundly. Adam asked Benny if he would like to sleep in his parents' bedroom as they hadn't done that since they had traveled. Benny was very excited about that so Mo made up a bed for him on the floor next to her side of the bed. Benny sat in the bed with them as Adam told funny stories of Joe in school. Mo watched as he smiled and hugged their son, but she could see that the smile was only for Benny's benefit. Adam was very worried. He had brought his pistol into the room and had it on the bedside table. He closed their bedroom window before he got into bed even though she knew he preferred the fresh air coming in.

The next morning, the family had another shock. On the front porch was a letter under a stone right in front of the door. Hoss nearly tripped over it as he went to do chores. He brought it in and saw that it was addressed to Adam who tore it open immediately.

Bring ten thousand dollars to the stable on the old Janus ranch. Come alone and you can give me the money. If you don't do as I say, the dogs will be given your wife's scent and your son's, and we'll let them run free. You know what they'll do.

After handing the note to his father, Adam turned to Hoss and Joe and explained what was in the letter. "At least, she isn't ready to set the dogs on anyone yet. But there's something very curious about that letter. Nellie wasn't well educated, but this letter is written by someone with some schooling. It also says that 'we' will let the dogs go."

Mo had walked up to them and glanced over Ben's arm at the letter that had been left. She had analyzed documents and kept records for the secret work that Adam and other agents had done for the government. Those skills came in handy at this time. "It's because it's two women. Nellie is Mary Arnold, and she's working with Gretchen Janus."

Adam nodded as his father slowly came to the same realization, but Hoss and Joe wanted Mo to explain. "Two women escaped from the hospital for the criminally insane. We know Gretchen isn't insane, but she faked it well enough to get out of a murder conviction. From what you've said, Nellie was crazy. Now the articles we read in the paper said that Mary Arnold said that Benedict Arnold was her father. We know that can't be true, so the name is an alias. She escaped with Gretchen who is well educated and has been on the Ponderosa and would know the layout of this house. Then the note says to bring the money to the stable on the Janus ranch. The two of them are working together and we have to expect the worst that each can do."

Chapter 6

"Adam, I don't want you to get the money from the bank. Mo is correct in that this whole thing seems to be targeting you. This note could be a way to get you away from the protection you have here. I'll go to town with Candy and two of the men. We'll get the money and bring it back here before we decide what we're going to do next."

"Pa, you can go to town to get the money, but I'll be taking it to the stable on the Janus ranch. I will not risk my wife and son by trying anything else."

"Adam, I don't want you to go. Your father is right. This whole thing is targeting you, and going to that stable is too dangerous. Alone and unprotected, what happens if they set those beasts on you?" Mo didn't want Adam to deliver the ransom money, but she knew the biggest weakness in her request.

"Mo, if I don't go, they will set the hounds on the two of you. How many do you think may die if that happens?"

"I know but I can't bear the thought of losing you. Not after everything we've been through. We came back here thinking life would be better, but it's not. There's danger all around, and now you and Benny are in danger again."

"We've had this discussion before. There's danger anywhere we may go, but here, we have help that we wouldn't have anywhere else."

"Yes, but who can help you if you go to deliver that ransom with two crazy women and their horrible animals?"

With no ready answer, Adam stood mute. Ben went to make arrangements to travel to town to get the ransom money and discuss their options with Roy. Hoss and Joe were staying in the house as additional protection for Adam and his family. As they waited, Hoss had an idea.

"The best person I know for sneaking around in the woods without being seen is Adam."

"Hoss, how does that help us? Adam's the one who has to deliver the money."

"Joe, Adam can do that because the Paiute taught him a lot. I think that may be our answer."

For a moment, Joe looked confused but then whooped and jumped up. "That's it! Hoss, you're a genius. I tried to think of how we could help Adam, and that's just brilliant, just brilliant."

Adam smiled and shook his head because Hoss could be inspired sometimes when it came to creative solutions. Mo however was as confused as she could be.

"What solution?"

"Sweetheart, what Hoss is suggesting is that the best people to move through the woods without being detected are the Paiute. They taught me some of what they know, but who better than to ask to set up surveillance." Looking over at Joe, Adam asked if he would go ask the Paiute and try to get them set up by the next morning when he would deliver the money. Joe went to get another man to ride with him and was gone as soon as he could get his horse saddled. He didn't ride Cooch as that would have been too obvious, and he dressed in some clothing he borrowed from one of the men. It would appear that two men rode out to get some work done, and it would not cause any undue suspicion if the house was being watched which they assumed was the case. Once they watched Joe ride off, Adam and Hoss were quiet but Mo had a question.

"What will you have to pay the Paiute for doing this? And will they be willing to go up against those dogs?"

"Joe will work out a deal. He's good at doing things like that as Hoss can attest. Most likely they'll want cattle as payment. With so much of the game killed off and their lands shrunk to a fraction of what they were, they're always hungry. As for the dogs, Joe will explain. They won't want anything like that running free either so they'll help. At least, I hope very much that they will. We don't have a backup plan if they don't want to help for any price."

Despite the efforts to keep the conversations unintelligible to Benny, he was picking up on the tension in the house and wanted to know where his grandfather was and why Uncle Joe had left. Adam pulled his son onto his lap to explain.

"Your grandpa went to town because he had some errands to run. Uncle Joe left to go visit with the Paiute Indians. Do you want to visit their camp someday?" Adam's attempt to divert Benny's attention from concern over the family worked. Benny wanted to know when they could go and what they would see. Adam told him it would have to wait for a week or two, but then entertained his son with stories of his young life on the Ponderosa and spending time with the Paiute youth. His stories soon had Hoss and Mo listening as intently as the youngster so time passed quickly, and soon it was time for lunch. Shortly after lunch, Ben arrived with the ransom money.

"Roy is getting together a small posse. They're going to head up to the Randall place to see if they can find those women there. If not, they'll try to find them and come at them when they don't expect it. The state is sending in some people to help by tomorrow. They're coming from Carson because both women are still wanted as escapees. Where's Joe?"

So Adam explained where Joe had gone, and then Benny had to tell his grandfather that he would be going to the Paiute camp in a few weeks with his father. He was very excited, but then had to ask. "How long is 'weeks' because I don't know how long that is." Using Benny's fingers, Ben counted off ten and then four more.

"It's that many days so it will be quite a while before you get to go up there."

"Why do we have to go 'up' to see them?"

"They live higher in the mountains than we do. You can see for a long way from up there. That will be almost as much fun as seeing the Paiute."

As Ben had talked, Adam had suddenly looked to Hoss who was looking back at him with the same expression. "We should have thought of that earlier."

"Older brother, it's hard to think straight when there's so much going on. I can ride out early tomorrow and be in position well before the deadline."

Mo was confused again by the conversation, and this time Ben was equally in the dark. Adam had to tell them. "Hoss is going up on that ridgeline about a half-mile from that stable. With binoculars, he can watch to see the big picture. Anything out of the ordinary he should see."

"But if he's a half-mile away, how could he help you?"

"Mo, he won't be seen there and he can ride fast if he knows I need help."

Later in bed, Mo expressed her concerns to Adam. "Everyone wants to help, and they're doing all they can, but I'm still scared. No one can get very close without putting you in danger, but you're going to be in great danger by being with those two women and those dogs. What if they take the money and then kill you? You have no protection against that."

"I understand, but I don't see any other way to do it. I'll be as careful as I can be, but I have to use my wits and trust my family and friends. It's what I have so I can't question it. Going into this too scared is an invitation to big trouble."

"I know, but I wanted you to know how I felt. Adam, I love you so much. I can't bear the thought of all of this."

"You're stronger than you think you are. You'll do fine. Remember that we talked about the weakness in this whole thing. So many are going to be gone to help me that you and Benny will be more vulnerable than you've been. You need to do exactly as we planned."

"I will, but its your planning for their expected treachery that has me the most worried. They're so unpredictable. How can we know that we've anticipated any possible move."

"We've done the best we can." Adam moved then to pull Mo to him. He wanted to make love with her. His father probably anticipated that for he had invited Benny to spend the night in his room. The unexpected offer had Benny so excited that he forgot about asking so many questions about what was happening around him. When Adam and Mo had retired to their room, they had heard Ben's soothing voice reading a story to Benny. They had been grateful to Ben for giving them some privacy as well as the reassurance that their son was protected. Now though, they clung to each other and took what comfort they could. Their lovemaking reminded Mo of the desperate times when they knew their enemies had followed them to New Orleans. Those first few nights together after that escape had that same feeling of needing a release of tension and a desire for comfort rather than the passionate loving that they usually did with each other. Afterwards, they fell asleep holding each other. Each time that either awoke that night, they moved close together again touching the other gently and saying a prayer that all would go well the next day so they would have more time together.

The next morning at breakfast, everyone looked about the same with dark circles under their eyes and worry in every expression. Adam ate woodenly not tasting the food in his mouth. He thought the others probably felt much the same way. Today was the day that would bring the confrontation with two women. One was likely insane and the other had no morals. They needed to face justice, but there were so many things that could go wrong in their plans. Adam knew that but had tried to reassure Mo that all would go well. He kissed her and hugged and kissed Benny before he mounted up to ride to deliver the ransom. Hoss had been gone at first light to get to where he wanted to be for the day. He was an unmistakable figure so he had ridden as if going to town but circled around to head to his chosen observation point. They had no word but assumed that Joe and the Paiute were in position and probably had been all night. Ben waited for the men to mount up and they headed out at a slow pace to the place where they were to wait unless summoned by three shots. Two in rapid succession and then a third was the signal. Otherwise they had to wait for someone to arrive to tell them what was happening.

As Adam rode, he felt hyperaware of his surroundings. He heard every bird song and every bellow from a cow as well as the leaves whispering in the soft breeze blowing in the early morning sun. It was dry so the grass crackled under his horse's hooves as he made the ride that he knew could be his last. He had saddlebags bulging with money. There was no trickery there because none of them had wanted to take the risk of exacerbating the inflammatory situation by faking the ransom. As Adam neared the Janus home place, he continued to hear the birds singing. It put him on edge but also made him begin to re-examine their plans one more time. If the two women and the dogs were near, he would have expected the birds to be quiet. Once he reached the stable and opened the door, he had his answer. They weren't there, but there was another horse, a change of clothing, and a note.

Put on the clothing that is here and take that horse. Leave your horse outside the stable. Exit through the back doors of the stable with the horse and ride slowly three miles due north. You'll find your next instructions there. Bring the note with you.

Doing as instructed, Adam stripped off his tan coat and black clothing donning the nondescript clothing and slouch hat that had been left for him. He took the horse they had provided noting that it had a Ponderosa brand. They had stolen that horse from them and now wanted him to use it. He could only hope that the watchers understood what had happened and followed discreetly or he would be alone to face the two women who wanted him dead more than anything. As soon as he rode out, one of the Paiute men with Joe headed in the same direction moving silently and stealthily through the trees. Up on the ridge, Hoss packed up his binoculars and began to move as well because a strange horse and strange clothing did not disguise to him that it was his older brother riding away from that stable. Joe and the other Paiute man headed to the stable and found only Sport and Adam's clothing when they arrived. They then hurried as fast as they prudently could until they reached the edge of the trees up ahead where the other Paiute man waited for them. Adam had crossed a large section of open pastureland before he rode into more trees on the other side. There was no possible way to follow him on foot or horseback without being seen. Joe growled in frustration much as Hoss did up on the ridgeline when Adam rode into the trees. He began to ride as fast as he could but the terrain worked against him there. His stomach clenched as he realized that at least for the time being, Adam was on his own with no backup.

Chapter 7

As Adam had ridden out of the tree line and across the expansive open pastures, he knew that all of their planning to give him backup was useless. He was on his own for the time being. It made his stomach clench knowing he was facing the two crazy women and their dogs with no immediate help. He had to hope to manage to survive long enough for help to arrive. Sweat was running down his back as he prayed that his family and the others would get there soon. Joe and the Paiute men were circling around the pastures and moving as rapidly as they dared. Up on the ridge, Hoss was hurrying but was slowed by the terrain in which he was riding and couldn't see anything anyway. He decided to ride downhill and inform his father and the others what had happened so that they could ride in the direction in which Adam had gone.

Instead of more instructions, Adam rode slowly as he thought he was near where he was told to go. He heard a sharp command to stop and pulled up. Gretchen and Nellie rode out from where they had been hiding to either side of him. Gretchen sneered as she spoke.

"I bet you thought you were so clever with all the plans you had, but we were more clever than you. We bested you. Now hand over the ransom and carefully."

Very carefully, Adam untied the saddlebags and handed them to Gretchen as Nellie kept a rifle trained on him. There was no sign of the dogs. Gretchen opened the saddlebags to confirm that the money was indeed inside. Satisfied, she looked over at Nellie.

"You still agree to the arrangement we made?"

"I do. And don't even think of trying to shoot me and get both. The deal was that you got the money and I got him."

"I wouldn't try. I know you could shoot me just as I could shoot you, but that would only give satisfaction to the man we both want dead, now wouldn't it?" Gretchen had said the one thing that she knew Nellie would accept. She wouldn't turn on Gretchen because it would be something that Adam would like.

"And you're gonna do the rest of the plan?"

"Yes, I can see that our Adam here is thinking that he's doing the noble thing and saving his wife and son. Well, we're going to take that away from him, aren't we?" Adam started to get even more worried then. Turning to Adam, Gretchen couldn't help the self-satisfied smirk that she had. "You see, we both know you well enough to understand that you did this in order to save your wife and son. So, I'm heading to the ranch house before I leave here for good. I'm going to send your wife and son up in flames along with that house you're so proud of. Nellie is going to let you live long enough to know that's true. You'll be able to see the smoke from up there on the mountain. You'll die knowing that you've saved nothing. Nellie has some plans to make sure you die very slowly and painfully too. She'll make you into a nice treat for her dogs. They'll be so frenzied by the time she's done with you that you'll probably hardly feel them ripping into your insides. It will be a fitting end for you though for all you've done to us, for all the ways you've made us suffer." Gretchen found her stomach turned every time that Nellie had talked about what she wanted to do. Gretchen could kill, but she preferred a nice quick finish whether is was fire, poison, or suffocation. Physical torture held no allure for her.

At a loss for how he could do anything to delay these women, all Adam could do was move slowly when he was ordered from the horse. They had him strip off his shirt and boots. Gretchen found the boot knife and small pistol he had secreted away in his boots. She handed them to Nellie.

"It'll be a pleasure using his own knife on him." Nellie smiled at Gretchen before turning back to Adam. "Now empty your pockets." Once Nellie was sure that Adam had no weapon, she tied his hands as Gretchen held the rifle aimed at his back, and then she told him to mount up.

"I could ride better with my boots on."

"Yes, and that's exactly why you aren't getting them back. You just hang on and I'll lead the horse. You fall off or do anything else to slow me up, and I'll start carving you on the way. One way or another, you'll be screaming for mercy before this morning is over."

Suddenly Adam had an idea. It made him cringe a little to even think it, and he knew the results could be gruesome, but it was the only thought that he had. "You'll never make me scream." He knew that Nellie would take it as a challenge. Gretchen didn't see his ploy and only commented that he was making things worse for himself and she didn't mind that at all. As Gretchen rode off, Adam began to make the horse as uncooperative as possible. It was a Ponderosa horse and trained to cut and turn with knee pressure when herding cattle. Adam began to use his knees to make the horse turn right or left making it extremely difficult for Nellie to lead the animal. It slowed their progress as Nellie swore at the horse but couldn't make it do what she wanted which was to follow along obediently. Adam was buying time and could only hope that it was enough. He also prayed fervently that their contingency plans would be enough.

Meanwhile, Hoss had rendezvoused with this father and the men with him and Roy's posse had gotten there too. If Hoss had stayed up on the ridge, he would have seen Gretchen riding around the path of likely pursuit and heading to the ranch house. Instead, Hoss rode with the others as they split up into groups and moved in the direction Adam had gone trying to keep a discreet distance behind without knowing how close they were. Hoss was sent ahead eventually by his father to find out what had happened. He caught up to Joe and the two Paiute men as they stood holding Adam's boots and shirt wondering what had happened.

"Hey, Hoss, we're trying to guess what happened here. There's no blood, but why would they make Adam take off his shirt and boots?"

"Probably to check for weapons. All Adam had on him was a boot knife and a small pistol. Now he's got nothing."

"We need to get moving. The others are right behind us. I'll follow one set of tracks and you follow the other. We can leave a note here telling the others what's happened."

As soon as they had written a note and secured it with a rock next to Adam's boots, they split up. Hoss started to follow the single horse thinking it was probably Gretchen. Joe and the two Paiute followed the two horses thinking that was probably Nellie and Adam. As they rode, Joe saw how the tracks moved from side to side and realized what Adam must have been doing with his horse. He correctly surmised that Adam's horse was being led and that Adam was making that difficult to do.

"That's it, older brother. You just keep doing that and we'll catch up soon enough."

Up ahead, Nellie was almost at her destination. Once there she had things already set up for what she wanted to do. She didn't expect it to take long, and then she was going to let the dogs loose and move on. She planned to take a new identity and was thinking that moving up the wilderness toward Oregon would give her the best chance of escape. She didn't think that Gretchen would actually escape, but didn't worry about that. Gretchen had served her purposed and had lured Adam to her so she could administer justice as she saw fit. She had a rope slung over a branch so that Adam would be right over her father's grave. Her plan was that his blood would soak into the soil there, and she thought that her father would like that. She was getting angrier and assumed the recalcitrant animal she was leading was probably that way because of something that Adam had done. She looked forward to having him helpless for whatever she wanted to do to him.

Finally they reached the sturdy but primitive place where she had been raised. She led the horse over to where the rope was and reached out to grab it. She moved her horse beside Adam's and threaded the rope around the rope binding his wrists. Then she tied the other end of the rope around the saddle horn and then took the reins of the horse to lead him forward. As the rope grew taut, Adam's arms were pulled up and backwards toppling him from the horse, but she kept leading the horse until the rope pulled Adam to his feet and then up. When his toes were no longer touching the ground, she halted the horse and looked back with a big grin. Her nemesis as she saw him was hanging from the tree branch just as she had envisioned. She dismounted and went to feed kindling and then larger pieces of wood into hot coals left from the fire she had started there that morning. As soon as the fire began burning hot, she plunged the blade of Adam's knife into the fire to heat it. Adam had a premonition about what she would do with it next and steeled himself for it. He needed to do that because when she held it to his abdomen, he wanted to scream at the agony of it, but by steely determination, didn't. He knew she would continue this torture until he screamed. He needed to withstand as much as he could to buy time for someone to get there to help him.

Back on the trail, Joe had suddenly realized where Nellie was leading them. They no longer needed to follow the tracks as Joe knew the way. They rode hard up the mountain hoping to get there before Nellie killed Adam. When they neared the dwelling, Joe heard a scream and knew it was his brother. They kicked their horses into an all out race to get there in time.

Withstanding another burn as Nellie picked up his feet and applied the red-hot knife blade there had tested Adam's will, but he managed not to scream as the sensitive tissue was brutalized. Then she had gotten angry and gone inside the dwelling returning and standing behind him so he didn't know what she was doing until her hand reached around him and literally rubbed salt into his wound. Her hand sawed back and forth across the burn as he first screamed and then grunted in pain.

"I knew I could make you scream."

By then her dogs were straining at the chains that held them.

"Now, you get to see your death coming. It'll take a bit longer with you strung up like that, and I'm going to enjoy every bit of it. They'll find enough of you to identify you probably, but I haven't fed my boys for two days. They're mighty hungry now." Nellie looked down the mountain toward the Ponderosa. There was a little smoke but nothing like what she had been expecting. She concluded that Gretchen had probably failed in her task. She smiled thinking that she wouldn't fail in hers.

Nellie moved to unlock the chains that held the beasts back allowing them to leap forward toward Adam who could do nothing to protect himself. Neither beast made it as arrows embedded in each of their chests before they ever got to Adam. One died immediately falling forward, and the other ran off for about fifty yards before collapsing and lying still. Standing in shock at first, Nellie became livid and grabbed the knife rushing toward Adam intending to rip into his midsection with it and spill the blood as she intended the dogs to do. She didn't make it either as a rifle shot hit her in the chest throwing her back. She tried to rise up but fell back and died with only a gurgling 'No' coming from her lips.

Nearly overcome with emotion and pain, Adam waited to see who his rescuers were. Joe ran up to him first and then Adam saw the two Paiute men checking to make sure the two dogs were dead. He couldn't talk and thank them but nodded to acknowledge his gratitude. The pain was still too intense for him to speak but soon Joe backed the horse up so that Adam was lowered to the ground. Joe cut the ropes binding his wrists. Adam's hands were swollen and numb but as soon as he was able only to ask for water and as soon as a canteen was handed to him, he poured it over the wound in his abdomen. The relief was immediate.

"Do you want me to pour some water over the burn on your foot too?"

In a hoarse and weak voice, Adam declined. "No, she only rubbed salt into this one."

Joe got tears in his eyes when Adam said that. "I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner."

Adam reached for Joe's hand and squeezed it. "Thank you for saving my life. Thank our friends too."

"I brought your clothes and boots. They're back on my horse, but first I want to go inside there and see if I can find anything for those two wounds. They're going to hurt a lot until we get you back home."

"Joe, Gretchen went to the house. She wants to kill Mo and Benny."

"Hoss is trailing her and by now has some help. They'll be there soon if they aren't already there."

Standing then, Joe pulled his pistol. He fired two shots and then a third. Any of their group who was near would rush there when they heard that signal. Joe signaled to the two Paiute to accompany him into the dwelling. He found some clean muslin cloth that he could use but nothing else to help Adam. He told the two men to take anything they wanted and load it onto Nellie's horse outside. He told them that they could keep the horse Nellie had been riding. Soon that horse was loaded with blankets, food, and a few firearms, tools, and ammunition. Metal pots and utensils were rolled into blankets making huge bundles and those were added to the bounty the tribe was receiving. Joe walked up to them thanking them once more and telling them to cut twenty head of cattle from the herd. He laughed and asked that they please not take any bulls though. The two men agreed and rode off happy with the payment for services rendered. Adam heard them leaving and wished he could have added his thanks. He said that to Joe who said they knew. He bandaged Adam's wounds and some blisters on his ankles from rubbing on the stirrups. Very carefully he helped Adam pull on his boots and had to button his shirt for him too as he couldn't use his fingers very well.

"Now wait here and I'll get the horse right next to you so you don't have to walk."

As Joe moved to get Adam's horse, Ben rode in with Roy and some of the hands and some of the posse. Ben rushed to where Adam lay on the ground worried that he was hurt worse than he was.

"I'm fine, Pa. We need to get home."

"Once we found the note Joe and Hoss left, we sent most of the hands who were out there back with Candy and part of the posse went too. Candy and the hands headed directly to the house to help if needed, and the posse went after the trail Hoss was following. There should be plenty of men to help. Now what happened to you?"

"A couple of blisters and a couple of burns. Nothing serious."

"He's right about the last part. What he's got is probably very painful, but he can wait until we get home to get them treated. We don't have anything with us to put on them anyway. If you could help Adam up, I'll keep the horse steady. He's a little nervous with everything that happened here."

"Then put Adam on Buck. He'll head for home and a feed sack with only the slightest urging. I'll ride this one."

It took only a few moments to make that switch, and then Roy headed out with Ben and his sons leaving the other men to bury the bodies and clean up the site. Adam tried to ride fast but found he couldn't. The light plume of smoke in the distance had them all worried but it was white smoke and not nearly enough to indicate a burning building. It was almost dark before they reached the Ponderosa ranch house. Candy rode out to meet them and to tell them that everyone was safe. As they reached the house, they could smell that something had been burned, but the house looked untouched. Adam dismounted and was met by a little dynamo who nearly jumped into his arms to tell him about the 'bad lady' and how his mother was a very brave woman. Ben saw how Adam grimaced with Benny hanging on to him so he took him and asked him about what happened. Mo was there and stepped into Adam's embrace and began to cry. Adam held her and talked softly to her. Joe and Hoss were there and after Joe told Hoss about Adam's injuries, he went to tell Hop Sing. Hop Sing got together what was necessary and put it in the washroom. He began brewing some soothing tea as well as heating water. Hoss went back outside to tell Adam to take Mo into the washroom where they could talk privately and she could attend to his injuries too.

Chapter 8

"Now tell me what happened here." Adam was resting in the blue chair with his injured foot resting on the table. Joe had looked from the foot to the table and at his father who said nothing. For some reason, only he was chastised for putting his foot or feet on that table although in this circumstance, he could understand it. He was as curious as everyone else about what had happened at the house and where the settee was. Benny was in bed although he had protested that he shouldn't have to go. One stern look from his father had made him comply though. Mo sat on the hearth next to Adam and had her hand on his arm reassuring herself again that he was there and not much the worse off than he had been when he had left that morning.

"We had the hands here set on a perimeter just as we agreed. But Gretchen was even trickier than we expected. She started a fire at the back of the stable. Even the men who stayed at their posts had to be distracted so she used that moment to sneak into the house. She didn't find us because Hop Sing is a lot smarter than she ever was. As soon as he saw the smoke, he rushed me and Benny down into the cellar. He knew it was a trick. We had the firearms there just as we had planned. Benny was very cooperative, by the way, and stayed as quiet as a church mouse. We heard her walk through the kitchen and thought that she would be very frustrated. We also expected at least one of the men to come to the house to check on us. Well she forced that issue. She must have stacked the firewood that was next to the fireplace on the settee and set it on fire. We smelled smoke even in the cellar and knew there was a big problem. Hop Sing took the shotgun and headed up to see what he could do about getting some help for us. Benny started coughing with the smoke so I knew I had to get him out of there too. I came out just as she came into the kitchen.

"Ah, so I smoked the rats out of the hole."

"I didn't give her a chance to shoot. I shot her first. She fell and tried to reach for her weapon to shoot again, but I grabbed it. Then I got Benny and headed out to get help. When we got back inside, there was a blood streak on the floor, but she was gone. The cellar door was closed so I assumed she had gone down there. We put a heavy chair on the door and went to see about the fire she had set. But there she was adding fuel to the fire. She turned to fire with a weapon she had taken from the gun cabinet. I have no idea where she got the strength to do what she was doing. I shot her again. Then the men carried the settee outside and let it burn. It couldn't be saved anyway."

"Dadburnit, you mean that settee is no more?" Hoss couldn't hold the serious look though, and Adam joined him in laughing for they were finally rid of the settee that they had disliked so intensely. They had wondered why the two leather chairs from the game table had been positioned where the settee had been. Ben did have a question though.

"Is that why the rug is gone too?"

"Yes and no. It was soaked with blood, and Hop Sing said it couldn't be saved with the damage from the fire and the bloodstain too. I had the men add it to the fire outside. Three of the men have minor burns from putting out the stable fire and then carrying the burning settee outside. Maybe we ought to give them a big bonus?"

Ben agreed. "We can give every one of the men a bonus, and we'll give them all a day off tomorrow, but that's all we can do. We're behind in the roundup now, and we'll need to work hard to get back on schedule. It's going to be doubly difficult because Adam won't be able to help and with three other men down at least for a short time until those burns heal, we'll be short-handed too."

Mo had held it together up until that point. She had faced down Gretchen and defeated her. She had protected her son and saved the ranch house. She had directed the hands to do what was necessary including wrapping up Gretchen's body and taking it to town for burial. She had waited anxiously for Adam to return and then bandaged his wounds and made sure he was as comfortable as he could be. But suddenly it came crashing down on her. She began to tremble. Adam reached for her and pulled her to him. She laid her head on his shoulder and began to sob. With some difficulty, Adam managed to stand and turned Mo toward the stairs. Limping a little, he walked her up the stairs and to their room where she could release her tears freely while he did his best to comfort her. He remembered well the first time he had killed someone, and it had certainly not been as fraught with worry and fear as the situation in which Mo had found herself. He understood too that nothing he said was likely to help so he silently offered comfort and held her as she cried. She fell asleep that way as they lay on the covers in each other's arms. Exhausted by the ordeal and by what she had been forced to do as well as by the release through crying, she fell into a deep sleep feeling loved and safe. Adam took longer to fall asleep and said a prayer of thanksgiving that things had worked out as they had with his whole family safe, and no one seriously hurt by having to help him. He felt a little guilty to be so proud of his wife for being able to handle Gretchen on her own. He so much wanted to be the protector of his family, but it was reassuring to know that in a crunch, his family could be strong too. He rested his chin on the top of her head inhaling her scent which had a touch of smoke mixed in with the lavender scented water she used on her hair. It was soothing to be in his familiar bed with his wife by his side and no threats against them. He closed his eyes and slept.

After Adam had walked Mo up the stairs, Joe had quietly left the house. Ben followed him a few minutes later. Hoss had offered to go, but Ben said he probably understood best how Joe was feeling. "Although none of us can imagine the feelings we would have if we had ever been forced to kill a woman. I'll do my best to help him." Ben found Joe standing at the spot where the settee and rug had been burned. There were a few chunks of charred wood but nothing else was left.

"Does it hurt that the settee your mother bought was burned like this?"

"It does and it doesn't. It's losing one more connection to her, but I have the memories of that, and none of us ever really liked it anyway."

"Joe, I can only imagine how you must feel after what you were forced to do today, but you saved your brother's life. Doesn't that help?"

"Of course it does. I had to save Adam, but to shoot a woman down is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. She was a crazy, terrible, horrible woman who wanted to kill my brother and had already hurt him so much, but she was still a woman. I think I'll see her face in my dreams now, but I will know that was the right thing to do. Adam's pulled my butt out of the fire more times than I can count, and it felt good to be able to return the favor. No, neither of those things are what's bothering me very much. Those were things that had to be done."

"Then why are you out here by yourself?"

"Pa, why can't I ever do anything like this without crying? When Mo started crying, I got tears in my eyes, and I had to come out here before you all saw that I was going to cry like a baby. I want to be strong like you and Adam and Hoss, but somehow I can't do it."

"Joe, we cry too. Adam cried so much after he had to kill Ross that I wondered if he would ever get over doing what he had to do. I tried to tell him that Ross had given him no choice. He never truly accepted that, and the loss and the guilt ate at him for a long time. I stood out here once with him as he sobbed on my shoulder. He told me it felt like he had lost a brother, and he couldn't imagine the pain he would feel if he ever lost you or Hoss."

"Adam cried?"

"Joe, we all cry. You've seen Hoss shed tears. Adam and I hide it better than anyone, but we cry too. You saw how Adam cried when we rescued him from the desert after that madman tried to take away everything he was. I cry too. I cried for many nights after I lost each of my three wives. Sorrow has to be released or it eats away at you inside and can make you bitter and angry. By crying, we let it go. Strength of character isn't diminished by tears. Tears show that we have a caring heart."

"Thanks, Pa. You always know the right things to say."

Ben wrapped his arm around his son then pulling him close and let his own tears flow. It had been a day in which he feared the loss of one son, and feared the pain his other sons might be feeling. He released his own sorrows as Joe released his. In a few minutes both stepped back a bit embarrassed to have cried so much but understanding that it had been necessary. When they got inside, there were three steaming mugs of coffee waiting on the table by the fireplace. Ben and Joe were glad to have it, but Ben's eyes got wide when he took a big drink. He looked at Hoss.

"Thought we could all use a good dose of some spirits. I know I needed one. It'll probably help us all sleep a bit better." The three men sat silently then sipping their beverages and letting the tension release. It was over, and the family had weathered another storm together and come out of it stronger than before.


End file.
